Holy Cross grad among those lost on Thresher

All the hard work and study had finally paid off for U.S Navy Lt. Junior Grade Frank Malinski.In January 1963, Lt. Malinski, who had graduated two years earlier from the College of the Holy Cross, was assigned to the USS Thresher (SSN 593), which was considered, at the time, to be the world's most sophisticated attack submarine.

All the hard work and study had finally paid off for U.S Navy Lt. Junior Grade Frank Malinski.

In January 1963, Lt. Malinski, who had graduated two years earlier from the College of the Holy Cross, was assigned to the USS Thresher (SSN 593), which was considered, at the time, to be the world's most sophisticated attack submarine.

The posting was considered a plum job and an indication that the Glen Ridge, N.J., native might have a bright future in the Navy.

“Frank was the golden boy at Holy Cross and it looked like he was going places in the Navy,” said Thomas O'Neil, a friend and fellow member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Mount St. James. “But things don't always turn out like you expect.”

Lt. Malinski's hopes for a fruitful naval career were snuffed out when he and 128 of his crew mates perished after the state-of-the-art Thresher sank on April 10, 1963, during a test dive 220 miles east of Cape Cod.

The accident, which occurred in waters nearly two miles deep, is the worst American naval submarine disaster.

No one on board survived and Navy officials have blamed the sinking on a pipe weld that gave way.

They said the accident was so catastrophic that the men aboard probably had only a minute to live before the sub was crushed by water pressure.

Most of those who died were sailors but there were also 10 civilian shipyard workers and seven engineers who were on board to monitor the boat's performance during testing.

Longtime members of the Holy Cross community still remember the loss of Lt. Malinski.

Mr. O'Neil, a freelance writer who graduated from Holy Cross in 1959, said Lt. Malinski was well-liked on campus and was considered to be “a brainiac.”

“He was very smart and I think he had ambitions about a naval career,” said Mr. O'Neil, who wrote two books on crime, along with Dr. Henry Lee, the criminal forensics expert. “Frank really was a star at Holy Cross.”

The 76-year-old Mr. O'Neil, who is also an instructor at Gateway Community College in New Haven, Conn., said Lt. Malinski shared the top midshipman award one year.

Mr. O'Neil said that, while the families of other Thresher victims learned about the tragedy through naval authorities, Lt. Malinski's mother found out her son had died by picking up a copy of the New York Daily News at a Connecticut newsstand.

“It was poignant because Frank's mother played an important role in his life,” explained Mr. O'Neil.

Lt. Malinski was born on Aug. 6, 1939, and was raised in Connecticut by his mom, Margareta.

Friends said his father died in 1942 and they believe he was killed in wartime fighting.

Lt. Malinski was an honor student at Fairfield Preparatory School and was awarded the Ad Altar Dei Medal from the Roman Catholic Church for his outstanding work as an Eagle Scout.

Lt. Malinski graduated from Holy Cross summa cum laude with a bachelor of science degree. He had studied economics.

During his junior and senior years at Holy Cross, he was listed in the Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.

He was also active in student government and other campus activities and was a leader in the NROTC, serving as a color guard commander and battalion commander.

After graduation, he was commissioned an ensign and volunteered for submarine duty.

He entered the U.S. Submarine School in New London, Conn., and was later selected for advanced training in nuclear power.

From December 1961 to January 1963, he studied at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California and at the nuclear power training facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

The Thresher, the first boat of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Launched on July 9, 1960, she was capable of speeds up to 20 knots and normally had a complement of 16 officers and 96 men.

Accompanied by the submarine rescue ship USS Skylark, the Thresher, under the command of Lt. Commander John Wesley Harvey, started deep diving tests off the Cape Cod coast at about 7:45 a.m. on April 10.

As Thresher neared her test depth, Skylark received a message from the submarine that it was experiencing minor difficulties and that it was “attempting to blow.”

However, she never surfaced.

About 9:15 a.m., Skylark picked up two garbled messages that were followed shortly by a high-energy, low-frequency disturbance that was detected by its SONAR.

Officials said the disturbance was the crushing of the sub as it plunged below its crush depth.

Thresher's remains were later located on the sea floor, about 8,400 feet below the surface. She had broken up into six major pieces.

A naval court of inquiry eventually determined that Thresher had probably suffered a failure of a joint in a salt-water piping system.

After the sinking, naval authorities insisted on more stringent quality control measures during the manufacturing of subs. They also instituted safety measures aimed at helping a submarine facing similar circumstances as the Thresher from sinking.

Thousands gathered this weekend to attend memorial services held in Portsmouth and in Kittery, where many of the sailors had lived.

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